1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal for information equipment such as a PC card or a USB communication terminal which is to be inserted into information equipment such as a portable computer or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and particularly a technique for connecting and holding a chip card on which identifying information is recorded, such as a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card, a UIM (User Identity Module) card, or a USIM (Universal Subscriber Identity Module) card, on a PC card or a terminal for information equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some of PC cards of this kind are used for expanding the function of information equipment (a portable computer, hereinafter often abbreviated to “PC”) and causing the information equipment to serve as a transmitting and receiving terminal for radio communication. In the case where such a PC card is used by plural persons, the following counter measure is taken in order to manage the use of each subscriber. In a state where a SIM card on which personal data and identifying information such as a subscriber telephone number are recorded is inserted to a PC card, the PC card is inserted into a slot of a PC to be electrically connected thereto. The identifying information of the SIM card is transmitted via the PC card.
A PC card is configured in accordance with the standard of PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association). In the case of Type 2, for example, the size is specified to the width: 54 mm×the length: 86.5 mm×the thickness: 5 mm. When a SIM card having a thickness of about 0.8 mm is to be inserted to such a very thin PC card, various difficulties in design arise in viewpoints such as the installation space.
In the related art, therefore, a mechanism of only sliding and inserting a SIM card into a PC card is employed. When the SIM card is to be detached, an exposed portion of the SIM card must be nipped. Therefore, the operability is poor, and bending stress or the like is generated in the nipped portion, thereby causing a possibility that internal breakage occurs.
Recently, in order to solve the problems of the operability/the connection reliability, and the like, a PC card in which an ejecting mechanism is employed has been proposed. In the PC card, a middle portion of the PC card is cut away, and an ejecting mechanism which is attached to the cutaway portion causes a SIM card to be inserted and extracted in a direction perpendicular to the insertion direction of the PC card.
In a related PC card, when a SIM card is erroneously extracted during operation, there is a possibility that a circuit board of the PC card is broken. In a state where a PC card is inserted to a PC, therefore; the PC card must be protected so that an erroneous operation of extracting a SIM card does not occur.
By contrast, in the PC card having the ejecting mechanism, the cutaway portion for the ejecting mechanism is formed in the middle portion of the PC card, and hence the strength of the PC card itself is weakened. Even when the PC card is reinforced, the circuit board may be broken by twisting of the PC card or the like. Furthermore, the cutaway of the PC card and an insertion port of the ejecting mechanism cause the circuit board and the like of the SIM card or the PC card to be under the influence of electrical noises. There is a problem in that a countermeasure against noises generated by this configuration is not sufficiently provided even by a shield.